The club focuses on delivering concepts of fencing first to new members with addition of historical connotations second. Concepts such as tempo, distance management, positioning, tactics and efficient movements.

Historical connotations refer to the historical sources used to put all the concepts together. We are focusing on the works of Philippo di Vadi, a late 15. century fencing master from Italy. His main focus was on using the longsword with and without armor. In the spirit of historical fencing, we practice the simulation of fighting without armor. This means we still have modern protective equipment, but consider the sparing as if its without armor.

The training sessions always have the same elements:

Footwork – the practice of moving fast and staying stable on your feet. Imperative for distance management, attacking, defending and dodging.

Handwork – the practice of using hands to deliver attacks with the sword, defend with the sword or grapple.

Sparing – essential training to gather the two main concepts together and testing them out against fellow club mates.

Every training has a focus on a aspect of fencing while the next lesson builds upon the previous one to form a whole. Training sessions do not have strength conditioning or endurance elements; meaning our members do not do push-ups or lift weights during training. The goal is to maximize time to focus on fencing specific movements while general conditioning is encouraged in your time off training.

Historical fencing is generally considered a flat structured activity. This means that there are, in principal, no belts, levels or any kind of hierarchy which would be a global standard. There is only a person that teaches (the instructor) and a person that is learning (the student). The roles between physical people can quickly switch if the former student is teaching something the former instructor is not skilled in. We stay humble in our approach as we can always learn something new, even from other disciplines.

It is expected that members behave with respect towards each other during and off training. Training sessions are for everyone over the age of 18 regardless of their personal backgrounds.

It is extremely important to adhere to the safety rules as we do use steel blunt swords. Everyone should adhere to the safety regulations of the instructor. This includes proper protective equipment, safe sparing swords, proper amounts of force used as well as not doing any behavior that is not agreed with by the other members of the club. This additionally includes any behavior that might cause damage to property that is being used during training sessions.

The club is not a one way street of information from instructor to student. It is a community where we support each other and socialize within and outside of training sessions.